Inflammation is a type of biological defense as a means of protecting the body from damage of biological tissues that could be caused by external physical stimuli, chemical stimuli such as exposure to various allergens, or invasion of microorganisms including bacteria, fungi and viruses.
The Cyclooxygenase (COX) pathway or Lipoxygenase (LOX) Pathway can used for signaling inflammation, which produce prostaglandin, thromboxane, etc. Once the inflammatory signal is delivered, one of many changes that happen in the body is the expansion of the blood vessel for increased blood supply around the inflammation to concentrate blood cells such as neutrophils required for the inflammatory response. However, inflammatory diseases can result if an abnormal biological defense response occurs excessively. To prevent from this, drugs that suppress excessive inflammatory response by repressing enzymes used in inflammatory signaling pathway (for example, COX-1, COX-2, 5-LOX, 12-LOX etc.) are under development.
According to response time, inflammation is categorized as acute inflammation (immediate response, non-specific response, several days to several weeks), chronic inflammation (delayed response, specific response, several weeks or more), subacute inflammation (a middle stage in between acute inflammation and chronic inflammation, characteristics of mixed product of mononuclear and polymorphounuclear).
Also, aside from peptide factors, factors such as prostaglandin, leukotriene, lipid factors including platelet activating factor (PAF), synthetic enzyme of inflammation factor, free radical such as NO (nitric oxide), many kinds of cell adhesion molecule, immune system, and coagulation factors can cause inflammation.
Once a cell is damaged due to the known causative agents of inflammation such as external biological factors (microbes, viruses, parasites), physical factors (mechanical stimuli, heat, radiation, electricity), and chemical factors, histamine and kinin are released. The released histamine and kinin will result in angiectasis, increased capillary permeability and concentration of macrophages at the inflammation site, and it causes increased blood flow rate, edema, immunocyte and antibody migration, pain and heat generation.
Currently used treatments for inflammation are synthetic drugs such as ibuprofen, antihistamines, steroids, cortisone, immunosuppressive agents, and immune agonist; those which only temporarily alleviate inflammation. These drugs do not fundamentally cure inflammation, and they have side effects such as hypersensitivity reaction, and deterioration of immune system,
Therefore, for effective alleviation of inflammation, research is carried out to develop a substance that inhibits expression of the above mentioned inflammatory proteins. However, problems have arisen in anti-inflammation substances that had been developed previously. Diverse categories of anti-inflammatory drugs including Non-steroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) and Steroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs (SAIDs) have been developed; but not only do these drugs often bear side effects upon use, they also do not fundamentally cure the inflammation. Thus, there is a current need for anti-inflammatory drugs that both physically and economically feasible. As one example, in acute or chronic inflammations such as chronic rheumatoid arthritis, not only do non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs suppress COX-2 enzyme activity, they are also known to suppress COX-1 activity, causing side effects such as gastrointestinal disorders.
The present invention was completed as the present inventors have found that peptides derived from telomerase can have anti-inflammatory properties.
Therefore the objective of this invention is to provide a novel peptide.
Another objective of present invention is to provide the polynucleotide that codes the novel peptide.
Another objective of present invention is to provide a peptide that has anti-inflammatory activity.
Another objective of present invention is to provide an anti-inflammatory composition that uses this peptide as an active ingredient.
Another objective of present invention is to provide a cosmetic composition that uses this peptide as an active ingredient.
Another objective of present invention is to provide a pharmaceutical composition that uses this peptide as an active ingredient.